


The Doom of Damocles

by Xochiquetzl



Category: Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-15
Updated: 2010-12-15
Packaged: 2017-10-13 16:50:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/139491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xochiquetzl/pseuds/Xochiquetzl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry's trial as a teen for the death of Justin duMorne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Doom of Damocles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silencedancer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silencedancer/gifts).



Elaine was gone.  Harry wasn't sure how he felt about that.  He supposed he didn't have to, since she was dead. 

He wasn't sure about how he felt about Justin, either.  Justin had taken him in, taught him magic.  Given him a home.  Tried to take his will.  Living with Justin, he'd learned magic, fallen in love for the first time, had his first kiss, learned the meaning of betrayal.  He'd come to Justin with nothing, and he was leaving with almost nothing. 

He did have Bob, though.  Bob couldn't be hurt by fire, being a skull and all.  And his mother's pentagram.  And knowledge, which was pretty damned hard for anyone to take away from him. 

Part of him was glad that Justin was dead.  A much bigger part than the part that felt guilty for that.  He supposed he'd pay soon enough, what with the deal he made with Lea. 

It did and didn't seem fair when the Wardens came and took him away.  It did because he'd killed two people, and it didn't because there really should be some kind of Young Wizard Protective Services to come in and save him and Elaine from Justin.  One of the wardens--Ebenezar McCoy--was from Missouri, which surprised Harry.  He thought of wizards as being urban, upper class, and well educated, and had never thought of a wizard living in the country.  The other Warden was dark and serious and mostly silent, and declined to give his name.  They stopped in a Motel 6 on the way to Harry's trial. 

The first thing they did was take Bob away from him.  McCoy said they were "keeping Bob safe," but that didn't stop Harry from throwing a full-out teenaged shouting and object-throwing tantrum.  The serious Warden watched Harry with his wand out, but McCoy just raised an eyebrow at him.  There was something about that calm eyebrow raise that made Harry stop with Gideon's Bible raised over his shoulder ready for tossing.  They stared at each other for a moment, but broke off before it became a full soulgaze. 

"Don't hurt Bob," Harry said. 

"I won't," McCoy said. 

Harry sat down on the hotel bed and started to cry, which was clearly not what the serious Warden expected.  McCoy sat down opposite him and gently wrapped Bob in a silk scarf before tucking him into an old-fashioned cloth suitcase. 

"If they think he's having an influence on you, he'll be in danger, too," McCoy said.  "Safer for both of you if I hang onto him for a while." 

Harry nodded and dried his nose on his sleeve.  He tossed the Bible onto the nightstand and lay down.  He didn't know why he trusted McCoy.  He supposed that if they tried to keep Bob he could ask Lea to help get him back.  He was already screwed as it was;  what was a bit more debt? 

The Wardens took turns watching him sleep, which made it hard to sleep. 

#

The next morning, they took a plane to Edinburgh. 

"Why do we have to take a plane?" the serious Warden asked.  "Why can't we take the Nevernever?" 

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the Warden's whiny tone on the grounds that the man was better armed than he was.

"I don't think Leanandsidhe would like that," McCoy said.  He turned to Harry.  "Would she, son?" 

Harry froze, afraid to answer.  The serious Warden let out a long breath. 

McCoy slapped Harry on the back.  "An airplane it is."  Customs expressed curiosity about Bob, but McCoy told them he was a stage magician and that Bob was a prop in his act.  Which was when Harry realized that McCoy reminded him of his father. 

Ebenezar McCoy wasn't his father.  He was no relation to him at all.  He shouldn't trust him any more than he should have trusted Justin DuMorne. 

Harry fidgeted on the plane.  He wasn't interested in the magazines, the earphones shorted out when he tried to listen to them, and he spent the whole time hoping the engines didn't go haywire because they were aboard.  They didn't. 

Maybe they should have.

#

McCoy patted Harry on the shoulder while the serious Warden put a black hood over Harry's head.  His hands were tied behind his back.  They then led him into a room where a bunch of people were speaking Latin.  Harry didn't speak Latin well enough to follow what was going on, so he didn't understand why some people raised their voices.

Not McCoy, though.  McCoy stayed calm.  Finally, at the end, McCoy pulled his hood off. 

Harry blinked.  It was bright--or maybe it just seemed that way after the hood--and the room was full of people.  He looked over at McCoy.

"Come on, Hoss," McCoy said.  "You're my apprentice now." 

"What?" Harry said.  "Was I found not guilty?" 

McCoy turned Harry around and untied his hands.  "No," he said, "you've been paroled into my custody." 

"I don't understand," Harry said.  "I don't have to go to prison?"

"No," McCoy said, "they were going to cut off your head." 

Harry flinched.  "What?"  He looked around the room in a panic.  His eyes locked on a tall, thin, dark man with a bright silver sword who was watching him.  The man's eyes narrowed, and he gripped the sword tightly enough that his fingers went pale. 

"Come on, Hoss," McCoy said.  He dragged Harry out of the room. 

Harry followed McCoy back to their hotel room, numb.  McCoy opened the suitcase and handed Harry Bob.  "You knew the penalty," McCoy said.  "It happened to Bob." 

Harry clutched Bob to his chest and burst into tears.  He sat on the floor, rocking back and forth.  He couldn't bear the thought of Bob tied up, hooded, killed.  Becoming Bob.  He wondered if he would have been trapped in his skull, too. 

"Don't be so maudlin," Bob said.

Harry laughed and dried his eyes and nose on his sleeve. 

"And you'd better not get snot on me, either." 

Harry sniffled.  "What are best friends for?"

"Best friends?"  There was a softness to Bob's voice that belied the words.  "Seriously, Harry, you need to get out more." 

#

Ebenezar tucked him in, just like he was a small child.  Bob sat on the nightstand, his eyes glowing like a night light. 

"Night, Hoss," Ebenezar said.

"Good night," Harry said.

Ebenezar turned out the lights on his way out. 

"They'll cut my head off if I screw up again, won't they?" Harry asked Bob.

"His, too."

"What?"

"He vouched for you," Bob said.  "The Doom of Damocles applies to Ebenezar as well as you." 

Harry didn't know what to say to that.  He couldn't imagine doing that for anyone, let alone someone he'd just met.  Not after Elaine.  It wasn't even like Ebenezar had soulgazed him. 

Since he didn't know what else to say, he settled for, "Good night, Bob." 


End file.
